Solved! surround sound intended for music

[schneidler]

I have a frankenstein / hand-me-down audio setup that was mostly given to me but was having issues and so I was thinking of buying something new. I would probably hook up a tv to it but we don't watch tv very much and that is a low priority. What I want is stereo music sound coming from all around me when I listen to music from my phone. Using a simple AUX cord is fine.
Something like this, but with at least FOUR speakers, not 2: https/smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B010XHCQGK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

My question for the forum, is why do you think this is seemingly an obscure, hard to find product? It seems like this should be a niche for a major player to make a less expensive but still decent product that lacks multichannel digital sound but is loud and surround and intended for phones.
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The following isn't a question, but If you're curious, what I have now is an onkyo tx-sr505 receiver, hooked up to a pair of old sony "ghetto-blaster" speakers up front, a center speaker (Dayton Audio CCS-33b), and 2 side speakers (sony ss-b 1000). And a Sony SA-W2500 subwoofer. The main issue it was having was the side speakers were too quiet, and the receiver would go into protect mode at high volume (upper 50s). All 8 ohms. I was reading some threads that suggested checking for loose speaker wire. I messed with it about an hour ago and lo and behold I think that was the problem as I've been blasting it since then with no issues and the side speakers seem louder. Assuming it stays stable I guess I won't need anything else, but I was still mystified as to why I can hardly find a basic audio stereo system with 4 or 5 speakers.

 

[americanaudiophile]

A stereo system by definition has a two channel amplifier. You can hook more than one pair of speakers to a stereo amp (you might need a impedance matching speaker selector) but all the speakers can only play in stereo so the rear speakers duplicate the front speakers.
At the beginning of surround sound there was this
https/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafler_circuit
http/kantack.com/surround/surround2.html
Didn't work all that well so much better systems developed.
They all required separate amp channels for each speaker since they would be playing different parts of the music. Jim Fosgate was instrumental in the development of these. His tech was incorporated by Dolby Labs for movie theaters and eventually for home theater. Dolby ProLogic and ProLogic II both have music modes that he developed.
Since music is almost always recorded for two channels how well it decodes varies a lot.

 

[schneidler]

Interesting! Thanks for the info. So I guess what I want is regular 2-channel sound, but not just coming from the front but all around me. Which I think is what I have now that my frankenstein system is working. I pick the "all channel stereo" listening mode on my onkyo receiver and it sounds pretty good on my 5.1 speakers.

A stereo system by definition has a two channel amplifier. You can hook more than one pair of speakers to a stereo amp (you might need a impedance matching speaker selector) but all the speakers can only play in stereo so the rear speakers duplicate the front speakers.
At the beginning of surround sound there was this
https/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafler_circuit
http/kantack.com/surround/surround2.html
Didn't work all that well so much better systems developed.
They all required separate amp channels for each speaker since they would be playing different parts of the music. Jim Fosgate was instrumental in the development of these. His tech was incorporated by Dolby Labs for movie theaters and eventually for home theater. Dolby ProLogic and ProLogic II both have music modes that he developed.
Since music is almost always recorded for two channels how well it decodes varies a lot.